A source familiar with the meeting said Ryan told the two Democrats that their party is winning the public opinion war on gun control, but a Ryan spokesperson denied that the speaker made such a remark.

Hours after Senate Republicans defeated four gun measures, the White House hit back hard by accusing them of “cowardice” and being “scared” of the National Rifle Association.

The four measures, two Republican-crafted and two Democrat-written, would have tied gun purchases to various federal terrorism watchlists , increased funding, and closed the so-called “guns show loophole.” None received the requisite 60 votes needed to end debate.

The Senate failed Monday to take any action to limit gun sales to people whose names appear on federal terror watch lists, as Republicans voted to impose a three-day waiting period and Democrats sought to allow the government to ban such sales.

The votes followed the quick rejection of a pair of amendments that would have expanded background checks for people buying guns.

Well-known writers, media personalities and relatives of gun violence victims posted passionate dispatches on both sides of the gun debate during Sen. Christopher S. Murphy's filibuster Wednesday and early Thursday.

“Heard about @ChrisMurphyCT and his #filibuster and I feel like, for the first time in days, I am breathing,” Jared Frieder, a Los Angeles-based comedy writer, posted at 2:06 p.m., three hours after Murphy took the floor.

House Democrats are calling on their Republican counterparts to allow a vote before they go home for the weekend on legislation that would ban people on the no-fly terror watch list from being able to buy guns.

"This Congress should not leave this week without giving us a vote on something very simple: 'no fly, no buy,'" Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra of California said Wednesday morning.

Echoing what he told reporters Monday after returning to the Capitol from the scene of the terrorist attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Nelson has now filed legislation that would include in the NICS database terror suspects and other individuals interviewed by the FBI in such cases.